1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a glass cutting apparatus, more specifically, to a glass cutting apparatus for cutting glass according to a predetermined pattern.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the fields of stained and art glass work, glass cutting techniques and devices are critical in view of the intricate glass shapes that are required. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,939,968; 4,120,220; and 4,446,768 disclose glass cutting devices of various designs. As discussed in these prior art patents, hand tools have often been utilized for glass cutting but hand held glass cutters have significant drawbacks, particularly when cutting complex curves. The various glass cutting apparatus disclosed in the prior art patents simplify some of the difficult aspects in glass cutting. However, these prior art devices do not easily and consistently replicate a glass workpiece according to a given pattern. In general, in the prior art, the shape of the pattern is drawn onto the glass workpiece and the apparatus utilized is used to score the glass along the drawn guideline. However, this technique does not yield a high degree of uniformity in the shape of identically patterned glass workpieces.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a glass cutting apparatus for easily and consistently cutting a glass workpiece into a pattern shape. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a cutting apparatus which is easy to use and easy to manufacture.